Finmin deputy director PGS Rao’s 2G note on Chidambaram jolts UPA

Dr PGS Rao, the finance ministry bureaucrat and author of the 14-page note dragging home minister P Chidambaram into 2G scam, would have walked into North Block grossly unnoticed. Not any longer.

Maybe, you can’t still recognize him even if you walk past him while going on a morning walk at Mandir Marg in New Delhi’s Gole Market where he resides. Rao, a deputy director (infra and energy) in department of economic affairs under finance ministry, was never seen behind Pranab babu when he talks to media in front of the Finmin’s main gate.

The note prepared by Rao and “seen by” finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has already sent tremors in UPA-II government as it clearly stated that Chidambaram, then finance minister, could have tried harder to force A Raja, then telecom minister to auction valuable spectrum, instead of merely agreeing to Raja’s methods. The note was already produced in court as a piece of evidence in support of Chidambaram’s alleged role in 2G spectrum case that according to Comptroller and Auditor General caused a loss of whopping Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the exchequer.

Rao’s note dated March 25, 2011, was sent to Vini Mahajan, joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office. An RTI applicant procured it through the official channels from the PMO.

The principal opposition party BJP wants Chidambaram to resign in the wake of the finance ministry note “seen by” none other than UPA heavyweight Pranab Mukherjee. Law minister Salman Khurshid however dismissed Rao’s note saying that it “comes from a junior official in the (finance) ministry...it’s not a paper that is being sent either by a senior functionary or a minister”.

In government hierarchy, a deputy director comes much below in the line up which is as follows: Secretary---Additional Secretary---Joint Secretary---Director---Under Secretary…

Action and Appointments

a) R Gopalakrishnan, a 1979 batch MP cadre IAS and additional secretary to Prime Minister, has been appointed as Member Secretary, National Innovation Council, in the rank and pay of additional secretary, for a period of two years. Gopalakrishnan, who had earlier served as private secretary to former MP chief minister Digvijay Singh, relinquished his charge in the Prime Minister’s Office after completing his tenure on September 23, 2011. He joined PMO soon after UPA-I came into power in 2004.